Outhouse racers keep mum on design plans

Friday

Sep 28, 2007 at 12:01 AMSep 28, 2007 at 4:28 PM

Although frogs will be jumping and turtles will be sauntering, the Great Ozark Outhouse Race is expected to be the premiere event at the second annual Oma and Noma Days celebration this weekend on the Bagnell Dam Strip.

Joyce L. Miller

Although frogs will be jumping and turtles will be sauntering, the Great Ozark Outhouse Race is expected to be the premiere event at the second annual Oma and Noma Days celebration this weekend on the Bagnell Dam Strip.
Four teams will vie for the title of grand champion of the Oma and Noma Days Great Ozark Outhouse Race and a toilet seat trophy.
While the race boats will be firing up their high-performance, fuel-injected engines just down the road in the Offshore Super Series races; the privy racers, no less excited than the cockpit drivers, will be preparing for their event that begins at noon Saturday in front of Casablanca on the Strip.

The plans for the outhouses are heavily guarded secrets. Teams are hesitant to share their secrets for the race, according to Jeff Van Donsel, a member of the Oma and Noma Days organizing committee.
“Everyone here in the Ozarks remembers the outhouses at their parents' or grandparents' farms,” Van Donsel said. “Now that we have indoor plumbing, we decided the old outhouses are only good for one thing ' racing.”
It promises to be nothing but old-fashioned fun for the whole family when the outhouse races take off.

The outhouse can be an original design or a refurbished model that has sat out on the back 40. The only rules are the outhouse has to be on wheels and piloted by a team of five to six people. Each team must have a theme and be dressed accordingly. One member of the team is required to sit in the outhouse during the race.
“We are looking to have a real good time,” he said. “It's definitely a family event. There's all kinds of activities.”
The 300-foot course will require the outhouse racers to run with their privy to the finish line. Losers will have to repeat the course to determine second, third and fourth place.

The festival is a full day of activities on the Strip, set in time amid the days of years gone by when life moved a little slower at Lake of the Ozarks. Pie-eatin', peanut-spittin' and bubble-gum-blowin' contests will also be part of the festivities for young and old. Pies, peanuts and bubble gum will be provided free of charge.
Returning to this year's festival will be the frog-jumping contest reminiscent of the 1865 short story penned by Mark Twain “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calveras County.”
Free frogs will be provided along with plenty of tortoises for the turtle races.

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